Hi everyone,

I am moving to Switzerland and my baby will be born in Neuchâtel... Still don't have insurance and so haven't been able to book the hospital (Pourtalès). There don't seem to be any alternatives near by except a birthing house but as it is my first I would prefer a doctor on hand. I do have a gyny in Neuch so I can ask him to be on call (I'm in between countries at the mo).

Does anyone have any experience of giving birth here? I seem to have read that in Switzerland there is a choice of no pain relief or an epidural and thats it... is this true? I also have heard they do have water baths but I don't know how available they are? Also is it standard fare as to basically not needing to bring much to the hospital? From my reading they provide clothing for baby, pads, nappies etc... did you really miss anything?

Sorry loads of questions but I feel so in the dark.

xx

Sorry I can't give up-to-date practical help- as I had my kids in UK .. a long time ago. How good is your French? At what stage of pregnancy and when will you get here? If you need help with French- do ask. I could even come with you if you need an interpretor/support. PM if you prefer. Good luck.

My niece has recently had a baby at Pourtalès, so I could ask her, if you like.

I can't give you much practical advise either as my ´baby` was born in Belgium (he's 11 now) but we do live in Neuchatel if you need any help with anything. I can speak fluent French and am at home all day so don't be afraid to ask even if it's just for a coffee and a chat.
I don't know about Switzerland but in Belgium there was a choice between epidural or nothing as far as pain relief goes.

I gave birth 11 weeks ago in Ticino and can confirm the lack of painkillers. I gave birth in my local hospital was only offered a paracetomol, suppository or epidural - wasn't a complete surprise but I had expected pethidine to be available and that turned out not to be the case. I did eventually have an epidural. Having said that the overall experience was very good, including the support in hospital afterwards - and when I compare it to friends' experience in the UK I think I got the better deal.

To answer your other question they do provide all clothing and nappies etc for the babies as long as you're in hospital.

Hello,

We have had 2 babies here (I say we as my wife did all the hard work!).
Alice who is 10 was born in the old Pourtalès.
Sean who is six was born in the new hospital.
My wife had an epidural and this was not a problem.
I have heard in the birth class that they were reticent in Bern but that in Swiss romand it was always available. It seems Swiss German thinking is based on being natural and it is normal for a woman to suffer while giving birth. The only issue I remember is that it is best to say straight away that you want an epidural and make sure that the anesthetist has been informed when you arrive. I seem to remember that there was one guy and if you did not book him it can sometimes be too late. My wife who is French made sure that he was booked and we had no problem.

By the way on the insurance issue please be aware that it is preferable to have health insurance for your child before birth, especiallyif you intend to live in Switzerland. If you don't the insurance can refuse to cover pre existing conditions. If you child is born with problems they may refuse to cover him or her!!

Good luck and don't hesitate to contact me if you need any help.

Regards

John

A midwife once told me that this is because Germans are descended from the Germanen and French/English from Celts. Germanen were always more robust, stronger and have a higher pain threshhold than people of Celtic descent

This is rubbish and is unnecessary scaremongering. Why on earth would you say that to a woman about to have her first child here?

Wherever you give birth, in any country, you need to ask in advance what is available in terms of pain relief. For example, if you want an epidural then as the OP said you need an anaesthetist so it can only be in a hospital and may be restricted in some hospitals if there is not an anaesthetist available. Gas and air needs to be stored and supplied under specific conditions (sorry I'm not fully up on the science!) and it may not be standard in all areas. Some drugs (like pethidine, can't remember the name of the swiss equivalent brand off the top of my head) can make you feel sick so may not be offered if you are already being sick (as I was). Buscopan is a muscle relaxant and was offered to me in suppository form so that may be the drug referred to in an earlier post. Also the timing is key, if you are to close to delivery it's too late for many forms of pain relief.

Basically you need to talk to your place of birth about what your options are for pain relief and facilities like birth pools. It's not the same everywhere or fir every person and relying on info from a forum like this would be ill advised.

oh and wherever you give birth make sure you take some big comfy knickers for afterwards!

Painkillers in labor...

I got some homeopathy pills for the first 39 hours... Don't take me wrong, I am a big believer in natural remedies... But I am going to tell you a secret...

In labor it does nothing! Niet! Nada! Totally useless!

If you want to have access to epidural, make sure to tell them before. You can decide when you want to have it. You can try without for a while and always have the option to take it if you want. But keep in mind that they are not going to give it to you as long as you didn't reach 3 cm because it can slow down the process.

Epidural is in my book the best invention in the world!

haha! I was offered homeopathy pills for the post birth contractions, were useless and I demanded 'proper' drugs! Which were of course forthcoming. Thats my other suggestion - always ask for what you want, don't expect it just to be offered.

At least in the hospital where I gave birth, they did give me an epidural before I reached 3 cm. I arrived with contractions every 2 minutes and was only 1 cm...after an hour only 1.5 cm. By then, I was truly truly unhappy and they gave me the drugs.

Also, it's not true that they can only give an epidural. The anesthesiologist was unable to come for nearly an hour, so in the meantime they gave me an intravenous drug that was just wonderful...I am not sure what it was, but it did make me pretty drowsy so I think it was something they reserve for early in labor, so it won't affect the baby after birth.

Universitatspital in Zürich also does gas and air, though this is apparently not widespread in Switzerland.

Oh, and all this in the German part of Switzerland (Zürich), so forget the crap about not getting any help managing your pain!

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Where are we going and what's with this handbasket?

Wow! I was not taken care like that at all. I was in contractions every 1-2 minutes for 18 hours and they didn't want to give me anything else then homeopathy pills for 15 hours. The midwives (got 6 differents ones) didn't want to give my any ''real'' pain killer before I reached 3 cm.

No wonder I am going to give birth in a different hospital! In my case, the university hospital here in Basel wasn't reaching my basic expectations...

To the OP, make sure also that your husband speak out loud for you! He has to be the one to fight on your behalf. I send my husband couple of times for plenty of things that wasn't given without pushing them.

When in labor, you shouldn't have to spend energy on those details.

Good Luck!

Whoa, that's crazy. I mean I would have gone crazy. But be careful, the second one often comes much faster! I went in for number two thinking I was probably 1 or 2 cm (from the last experience) and I was....SEVEN....

Relatively similar experience here, except in Zurich and I was given muscle relaxants then a spinal block after the homeopathic stuff that did sh%te. I basically wanted to go as long as I could without an epidural, and as soon as I asked for one, the anesthesiologist was in the room. The muscle relaxants didn't do much other than allow me to sleep when the giant contraction let up every hour or so.

Everything after that was not at all by the book, but I have to say that as soon as I said, "Yes, please, I'm in a lot of pain," and they realized the little guy was having trouble, I was offered a c-section (duh) and was out of there within 30 seconds. It was this amazing bit of choreography in action.

The only thing that made me laugh was having the midwives say, "Be positive with your moaning," and the next one say, "Try just breathing hard."

I guess being stuck at 3.5 cm for 10 hours makes you kind of loud and insane. I will never tease a moaner again!

I understand why they let you go without drugs, but if you speak up, yee shall receive.

heck yes, let them know who is paying the bills!!

Nil your experience sounds truly awful

I sincerely hope that it is not just a case of 'asking and getting', irrespective of medical aspects. It should be a two way thing - the woman asking questions, discussing all sorts of possibilities, and then making an informed decision, as a team, with the doctor, midwife, partner, etc.
Epidurals are amazing (I had one very early when I had to have an emergency C section with daughter no 1 in 73- as she was a transversal breech) - but they are not without risks. So those should be discussed and understood properly before reaching a decision. Of course, it is our body and our baby - and we are the ones to make choices, quite rightly - but it is a good idea to listen to professional advice and experience, surely.

PLEASE remember that the op has asked for reassurance and advice here.

I did have a bad experience but I learned a lot from it! And I hope that can help the OP to think about those possibilities and how to react to them. It is a situation when we are out of reality, where we are so focused on the birth, on the child and also on the pain (to manage it) that what is going on around us pass in a blur.

So to be able to speak out loud, to put our mindset on hold to focus on what is going on around us is very important. The person who is there with you has to be strong and be able to speak up for you right away when needed.

I suggest that you do a bith plan, with all possibilities like:

Plan A: This is the best plan when everything goes well,
Plan B: If plan A doesn't go that well, what are you ready to do, to accept,
Plan C: Be open to a potential C-Section if it is necessary. (Keep always in mind that can happen.)

Make plenty of copies and make sure everyone gets one. Keep some extras ones with you, in case someone didn't see it.

And I forgot,

Go to an hospital where you can have your own Midwife that you personnally choose! She HAS to be with you from the beginning to the end (it can be 5, 10, 15, 28, 36 hours... but she stick with you for the whole process)

With my experience, don't go where they give you a midwife who works on normal time schedule. If you are in labor for more than a day, you'll see many of them and they are not connected to you (physically: they come and go and leave you alone a LOT, mentally: for the same reason, because they just come and go).

Find one by yourself that will fit with your expectation and will be there, for YOU the whole time, no matter what.

I meant asking for pain relief in general, not asking for specific drugs or procedures, sorry for the flippant comment that could me misinterpreted. I know of several people (both friends and acquaintances) who did not make their desire for pain relief known and struggled for ages unnecessarily. It's really important to do this as if the midwife thinks you are coping fine she is unlikely to offer you anything.

Completely agree, which is why I objected to the earlier poster who expressed the view that 'swiss germans think women should suffer in childbirth'. Rubbish! I used elements of hypno for birth and one of the recommendations with that method is that you avoid hearing other people's horror stories about birth because it can affect your mindset for a positive birth experience. Very sensible, but can still learn from experiences like Nil's that they not typical, everyone's birth is different and you need to speak out when you want help, the healthcare professionals are there to help you and your baby after all.

This could be really difficult unless you book a private midwife or a doula as you don't know when you are going to give birth and midwives have home lives too. What can you can do is if there is a team of midwives then try to see as many as possible of them when you go for your check-ups to increase the chances of a familiar face when you go in to give birth. Also ask the hospital how many midwives they have on duty compared with the number of birthing rooms, and for their policies on how many women a single midwife can care for.

Some women prefer to labour just with their partner and only have the midwife there for occasional checks, so again it's important to tell the midwife how you would prefer things to happen.

Also make sure your partner is well informed about birth and things that might happen as well as ways of helping you cope (massage, providing drinks, dealing with midwives/doctors etc), he should be obliged to be there from beginning to end!